Would you like some Toro Rosso with your Seabass?

Toro Rosso, as announced by Dietrich Mateschitz(one of the more amusing surnames to pronounce in English), is for sale. According to our buddy Dietrich, Toro Rosso is taking too much of his attention to run, and as of the new Concorde Agreement in 2010, “customer cars” will not be allowed. This raised several thoughts in my head:

First, hasn’t Dietrich stated several times that Toro Rosso avoids the Concorde Agreement, as does Red Bull, by having their cars designed and built by a parent company of both?

Second, given that Prodrive was scheduled to begin racing this year, doesn’t this leave a loophole(until 2010) for Prodrive to race? That makes either David Richards or Mateschitz a liar.

Third, Toro Rosso is partially owned by Gerhard Berger. Why hasn’t HE said anything about all this? He’s actually the day-to-day ruler/Imperious Leader of Toro Rosso. He should be the one to make an announcement, not the guy who started the team and pretty much leaves it to do whatever it wants.

This opens the door for several opportunities:

The return of Minardi to F1.

A possible entry for Prodrive, if David Richards wants it.

Or, of course, Red Bull might just continue on as though nothing has happened and continue with what they’re doing now.

But again, why would Dietrich Mateschitz, one of the richest men in the world, sell a team with two young promising drivers that doesn’t cost much relative to running a single team?

My theory:

First, Dietrich may have realized that(duh), if Red Bull ever becomes race-winning material, Toro Rosso will have to lose out. Only one team can win a race at a time. But if Toro Rosso, at their current rate(STR: 2 points, Red Bull: 0 points), has better drivers and potentially better cars, as they’ll only get the STR3(Red Bull RB4) when all the bugs are worked out of it. This could leave Red Bull, the supposed “lead team”, as a complete failure. Selling Toro Rosso removes the potential embarassment, and leaves Dietrich with less of a future worry. Strike one! This could also be requested by Renault, as all it could prove is that the Renault engine can’t keep up with the Ferrari in identical chassis. Strike two! And of course, it removes any chance of Vettel and Bourdais beating their older, more experienced “teammates” in equal cars, and therefore making Red Bull a laughingstock for hiring older drivers on the theory that they, having more experience, will be more consistently quick. Strike three!

Of course, Toro Rosso could always be bought by another team, say Ferrari. I hear they want Vettel as a driver in the near future due to the imminent self-destruction of Felipe Massa.